The Sports Psychology Blog
This Sports Psychology blog comes after the performance of Tom Petty at the Super Bowl half-time show.
American Football: Tom Petty - The Ghost
It's half-time at the Super Bowl. American musician Tom Petty has been booked to provide the interval entertainment. Twelve minutes worth. The chance to perform to a world-wide audience.
Unsurprisingly, Petty draws on his greatest hits collection. Crowd pleasers. 'American Girl'. 'Free Fallin'. 'I Won't Back Down'. 'Runnin' Down A Dream'. Nothing wrong with that. Familiar material.
However, Petty's performance can best be described as safe. No risks taken. And with it, no energy. It is as if we are witnessing The Ghost Of Tom Petty. A man lost in the shadows between who he was and who he is now.
For this to have been an energised, inspirational performance, Petty would have had either to re-arrange the songs to make them fresh and relevant. Or re-imagine in his mind, what these songs mean to him now.
He does neither. That is why there is no life in the performance. It's a show designed to not alienate anyone. Not disturb the status quo. A compromise. Because there is too much at stake.
Were Petty to fail; to be critically slammed, then at the age of fifty-seven there would not be the time to rebuild his career. Salvage his reputation. Better then to play safe. Do what's needed. And leave. But it is not the stuff of what true legends are made of.
The legends are the ones who back themselves. Who walk the line. Take a risk. Put themselves to the test. Who have to summon every ounce of their will to break through their own barriers. To go beyond what is safe.
It wasn't a place Tom Petty was prepared to go to. But what might he have discovered about himself if he had?
